CZT Family Tree: Laura Marks

We always say that the Zentangle Method attracts really awesome people. We have had the pleasure of working with wonderful Certified Zentangle Teachers (CZT) all over the world and we are excited to share these wonderful people with the entire Zentangle Community. Through our series, CZT Family Tree, we will introduce individual CZTs.

Name: Laura A. Marks

Hometown: West Hartford, CT

Favorite Tangle: so hard to choose but right now I would have to say foundabout. I find it soothing to draw and enjoyable to create and I love how flexible it is – it fits in with so many other tangles so easily.

Favorite place to tangle: That would be with my “Zensisters”. We try to get together every other month to tangle and create art with one another. Another place you’ll find me is in my home, wearing my pink fuzzy bathrobe, tangling. My students have gotten used to seeing me in my cozy robe online when I teach.

How I use the Zentangle method in my life: I view Zentangle as more than a way of creating art; to me it’s a practice like meditation, prayer or yoga.

When I first discovered Zentangle it was at a spiritual retreat I attended at a time that I knew something was missing from my life. I was feeling unfulfilled and a bit lost. Art had not been a part of my life since I graduated college with an art degree many years ago and it was the last thing on my mind that day. At this retreat, we all had to bring something meaningful to share with the others and Judy Englehart, who would go on to become a CZT and one of my dear friends, shared a tile and explained what Zentangle meant to her. From that point on, I was hooked! I took classes, attended retreats, made friends and joined communities all related to Zentangle and then took the step of becoming a CZT myself. The rest is history. I had no idea that this one event in my life would lead me to the very thing I had been searching for for years – a meaningful way of expressing myself artistically and connecting with others through art.

These days, I draw daily, participate in multiple online groups with prompts and projects to expand my knowledge, technique, understanding and to continue to build connections with others through Zentangle. My favorite story or memory about teaching the Zentangle method: I was teaching two back to back classes at a local library. The second session was for middle school kids and it was a class that incorporated a meaningful word in the tile using a black micron and gelly roll pens. One young lady became distressed near the end of the class when she realized she had spelled her word incorrectly. I handed her my thick black sharpie and told her that she could blacken the area with the written word and then use one of the bright gelly roll pens to re-write her word on top of it. Before I knew it, a few more kids were asking to borrow my black sharpie to blacken their words out and re-write them with the gel pens. I can’t think of a better example of an “oppsatunity” than this – the perceived mistake actually resulted in an outcome that was better than they had originally anticipated! It’s such a great anecdote I relate to my students when I talk about “no mistakes”.

Through my experiences as a CZT, I have learned: For the past ten years, I have been working as an expressive art facilitator at Hartford Hospital through their Integrative Therapy Department in a program called Art for Healing. I am blessed to work with a group of cancer survivors and caregivers who take Zentangle classes with me 3-4 times a month. Some people attend the classes as a way to relieve stress, some as an escape from the challenges they are facing. All keep coming back for the healing they experience when tangling.

Working with this group has taught me so many lessons in gratitude, community, resilience and faith. It is truly one of the most rewarding ways I engage with others through Zentangle.

If I’m not tangling, you will find me: Taking a walk-I love to walk outside or maybe reading a book, snuggling with my dog, Jib, or hanging out with my family (I have 3 adult kids who are my world). I recently became certified as a Health and Life Coach so I am beginning to offer workshops on goal setting and habit change which has an art element built into it (and that would be Zentangle!)


website: https://www.indytangles.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IndyTangles/

Instagram: @lauramarks297

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lauramarks9770

Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/laura-marks-czt-29639185071